A Regency Carved Circular Centre Table

Making a statement, we have this impressive Regency carved mahogany circular centre table. Of large proportions, it features a dished grey marble top, with a beaded frieze featuring foliate tablets and a substantial beaded pedestal base carved as a wolf pelt with paw feet.

Several major cabinet-making firms produced vigorously carved zoomorphic furniture in the early decades of the 19th century, notably Gillows. Whilst some of the carving to the frieze clearly follows the neoclassical patterns promoted by C.H. Tatham, the combination of carving sources seen on the present table may indicate a major Irish cabinet-maker, who was certainly influenced by Gillows.

Although the present table is supported on what initially appear to be lion paw feet, the richly carved, luxuriant hair appears to resemble that of a bear or of a wolf, the existence of which appears unique in British furniture. Perhaps uncoincidentally, the last wolf in the British Isles was hunted down near Mount Leinster in County Carlow in 1786 though wolves had featured heavily in Irish mythology throughout history and continue to do so in the names of people and places.

A Regency Breakfront Bookcase Attributed to George Oakley

We are pleased to be presenting this Regency gilt-brass mounted and inlaid ebony and calamander breakfront bookcase attributed to George Oakley.

The fashionable London cabinet-makers George Oakley & Co. were noted for their stylish furniture in the Grecian and French 'ancienne regime' styles. Much of their oeuvre was characterised by the use of exotic woods such as rosewood and calamander, which were further embellished with brass stars and metal inlays.⁠

Highly fashionable at the time, the firm had many illustrious patrons, including the Royal Family. Newspaper articles from this period stated that ‘all people with taste buy their furniture at Oakley’s’ (1804), another described the firm as ‘famous for goods of the latest fashion’ (1807). This bookcase would have certainly made a strong statement about wealth and connoisseurship and must have been intended for a high status patron. Ebony was the most opulent of cabinet woods and was also enormously expensive and hence was usually reserved for decorative details such as inlay. It’s use in this bookcase indicates supreme extravagance.⁠

A Pair of Regency 'Klismos' Library Armchairs, Possibly by Thomas Chippendale the Younger

Perhaps most explicit in its adoption of the Grecian style is a pair of mahogany bergère library armchairs following the ‘klismos’ archetype, attributed to Thomas Chippendale the Younger. 

These sophisticated and fluently carved library armchairs follow the design of the ancient Greek klismos chair, with a radically curved backrest and tapering fluted legs. This form, popularised in Britain by designers and collectors such as Thomas Hope, represented the culmination of the Neoclassical style, in part, as a consequence of the circulation of engraved views of archaeological discoveries throughout the Mediterranean.

This model most notably bears comparison to several of the idiosyncratic designs of Thomas Chippendale the Younger (d.1823), in particular to a group of chairs produced in his later years. They share the same muscular character, as well as the tightly scrolled lappets on the arm terminals, tapering fluted legs, and fine timber.

While the provenance for each of the present chairs is different, and there are variations in the turning of the front legs, other features are identical indicating that these distinctive chairs were made by the same cabinetmaker, perhaps to furnish a substantial library, as seen in the design variants undertaken by Chippendale the Younger at Stourhead. Amongst the known examples is one at 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister’s residence.

The Plas Newydd Gothic Armchairs

Elements of the Neo-Gothic also emerge in this collection, including a superb pair of George III mahogany library armchairs. These were formerly in the remarkable collection at Plas Newydd, having belonged to the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’, Lady Eleanor Butler (1739-1829) and the Hon. Miss Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831), whose relationship scandalised and charmed polite society in equal measure. These chairs were almost certainly designed by James Wyatt and very likely executed by Gillows.

Hailing from prominent Anglo-Irish families, the 'Ladies of Llangollen' met when the Hon. Miss Sarah Ponsonby was sent to boarding school. Lady Eleanor Butler, who was 16 years older, became the younger girl’s mentor, confidante, and friend, corresponding incessantly and hatching plans to one day run away together. In 1778, these plans came to fruition on a second attempt when the two families reluctantly accepted the ladies’ decision to be together. They purchased a simple stone cottage on a hillside overlooking the Vale of Llangollen. The cottage, which they renamed Plas Newydd (New Hall), remained their home for the next fifty years. Butler and Ponsonby transformed their medieval cottage into an elaborate Gothic fantasy, a cottage ornée, decorating it profusely with early carvings, panelling and Gothic windows.

These chairs are designed in the Gothic Revival style of the late 18th and early 19th century associated with the architect-designer James Wyatt (1746-1813). The exceptional quality of execution, choice of timber, and idiosyncratic carved detail of the bergère armchairs suggests these chairs were made by the eminent cabinet-making firm of Gillows of Lancaster & London, who produced Gothic pattern chairs throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

A Flemish Centre Table Stamped 'C. Lewis'

We then have a brass-inlaid ebony and parcel-gilt table stamped 'C. Lewis'. The stamp is likely that of bookbinder Charles Lewis, London’s leading binder in the early 19th century. Lewis had many prominent patrons, including some of the great collectors of the day, such as the Duke of Devonshire, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and Lord Spencer, as well as William Beckford, who commissioned him to work on the library at Fonthill Abbey. Beckford described Lewis as ‘the first artist in this line that Europe can boast of.’ 

A number of tantalisingly enigmatic elements suggest the possibility that Beckford himself may have owned this table. In the early decades of the 19th century, Beckford was purchasing items that might then have been considered old-fashioned, including Boulle and early ebony furniture. The contrasting black, red and gold would have harmonised with Beckford’s scheme at Fonthill – indeed, he commissioned a set of ebonised, parcel-gilt chairs in the Anglo-Dutch 17th century taste, upholstered in red Morocco leather around 1820, contemporaneous with this leather writing surface.

A remarkably similar table, conceivably from the same workshop, is in the collection of the Musée Carnavalet, Paris, and previously displayed in the Cabinet Colbert de Villacerf, salle 17. The scale and inlay is almost identical and, intriguingly, the top was inset with a tooled brown leather in the late 19th century, advancing the possibility that this replaced a crimson writing surface, and that the two tables once formed a matched pair. Likewise, there is no known provenance for the Carnavalet table.

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Auction Details

Wednesday 23 September, 10.30am BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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VIEWING:

• Viewing at Dreweatts London (highlights): 16-17 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5LU
  • Monday 7 September: 10am-4pm
  • Tuesday 8 September: 10am-4pm
  • Wednesday 9 September: 10am-4pm
• Viewing at Dreweatts Newbury (full sale): Donnington Priory, RG14 2JE
  • Saturday 19 September: 10am-3pm
  • Sunday 20 September: 10am-3pm
  • Monday 21 September: 10am-4pm
  • Tuesday 22 September: 10am-4pm
  • Wednesday 23 September: 10am-4pm

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